The word kebab is usually associated with meats. Make these easy-to-digest vegetarian kebabs, and you will not miss the meat!
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Watch the video below where Chef Sanjai demonstrates how to mix up your kebab ingredients.
Ingredients
Green Peas – 1 cup
Spinach – ½ cup
Quinoa – ½ cup
Plantain – 1 piece
Buckwheat flour – 1 tbsp. (optional)
Cilantro / Coriander leaves – ¼ cup
Ginger-Garlic paste – ½ tsp. (optional)
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp.
Garam Masala – ½ tsp. (optional)
Salt
Ghee – 5/6 tsp.
Procedure
Cut plantain in half, pressure cook or boil until soft; peel and mash. You will need about a ½ cup of mashed plantain.
Cook quinoa separately.
In another pan, heat 1 tsp. ghee and add cumin seeds, then add the peas, cover and cook 7-8 minutes. Add chopped spinach and cilantro / coriander leaves, cook another 2 minutes until the spinach wilts. Allow to cool to room temperature.
In a blender or using a masher, coarsely grind /mash the peas and spinach.
In a large bowl, add the peas and spinach mix (grounded), cooked quinoa, mashed plantain, buckwheat flour (if using – it binds and gives a crispy texture), ginger-garlic paste (if using), garam masala (if using), and salt. Mix them all very well – your hands will be the best tool!
Lightly moisten your palm, take about a golf ball sized amount of the mix, roll it around and then gently press from the middle of your palm to give it a flat, round patty-like shape. Moisten your palm every time you take the mix for rolling. The moisture from your hands makes a very fine outer layer that binds the patty together and also gives it a crisp texture.
Heat 1-2 tsp. of ghee in a flat pan, then cook the patties on medium heat, 4-5 minutes. Add a couple drops of ghee on the side up, turn over and cook for 4-5 minutes on the other side.
Your kebabs are ready to be enjoyed with a chutney of your choice!
Tip: For cooking fluffy, non-sticky quinoa – take 1 part quinoa and 2 parts water, bring it to a boil on high heat, do not cover. Then, reduce heat and simmer until all the water is absorbed, then turn off the heat, cover with a lid, and let it steam for 5-7 minutes. Fluff it with a fork.
Ginger-Garlic Paste: Use equal quantities of both and mash/grind into a paste.
OPTIONAL: Replace peas and spinach mix with 1 medium beet for Beet Kebabs! See photo below. Peel and grate the beet and blanch it in boiling water for half a minute. Strain the water and let it cool to room temperature. If in a rush, run it under cold water.
Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Vedanta, Ayurveda and Yoga. Her life partner, Chef Sanjai has resurrected forgotten yet seasonally pertinent, healing and delicious ancient recipes and developed original recipes too, inspired by ancient Ayurvedic texts from 1 BCE to 16 CE.
Together, for the last 12 years, they have been the driving force behind their wisdom school Vedika Global's much awarded Ayurveda program, Alchemy through Ayurveda with its emphasis upon health through in depth knowledge of healing foods, spices and recipes.
Check out Acharya Shunya's best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (Sounds True, 2017), which highlights Chef Sanjai's top 30 recipes for everyday health, spring detox, overcoming indigestion, etc. They have also recorded a unique series of classes together available in the Ayurveda Ancestral Herbal Library. In these classes, they share rare, lineage-based Ayurvedic recipes for handcrafting health with the power of Ayurvedic superfoods, spices, herbs and garden flowers. They are now co-authoring an Ayurvedic Cookbook.
Acharya Shunya's second book with Sounds True is to be released in 2020, titled, Sovereign Self, Claim Your Inner Joy and Freedom with the Empowering Wisdom of the Vedas, Upanishads, and Bhagavad Gita. She is a keynote speaker at national and international conferences and serves as an advisor to the Indian Government in matters pertaining to global integration and cultivation of Ayurveda and Yoga.
Receive Acharya Shunya's free online teachings and browse her current eCourse offerings here or see more about her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel where she holds live Global Satsangs once per month.